The lergy and the muse

 

 The small girl brought home a virus from daycare. We have all been afflicted with the entire range of wintry symptoms, with the added bonus of loads of night time coughing keeping us all awake. Our humidifiers are running constantly, there are rivulets of water running down our windows from the humidity. I really wish we could go to Cairns and eat tom yum soup and get lots of sunshine.

 For a few days she just sat on my lap in front of ABC Kids, all day long. It didn't help that she had an ear infection, plus molars coming through. My world shrank to the walls of our house. Amongst all of this Sam and I have so many deadlines, meetings to get to, or to cancel when Hazel is home from daycare.

 There are so many things on my hand stitching list: knitted gnomes for daycare, a cardigan for Hazel, embroidered boot uppers for the Needlework Needleplay show in August, and these embroidered brooches I've been planning and sampling for a workshop later in the year. I've been getting in as much stitching as I can, in the car while Sam is driving, on the park bench while the kids play in a briefly sunny window, constantly on the couch in the evenings. My TV viewing is all about Game of Thrones, Mad Men, West Wing and Treme, my current projects will always remind me of these shows.

 I'm also applying for a few grants, which require a lot of succinct writing, support material, and searching for co-funding and sponsorship. It's taking up a lot of time. There are not enough hours in my day!

 Each day Sam and I reach a point where we are exhausted and fed up with the relentless routine of small children; the MESS, the reading bag, the mealtimes, the getting them to bed, the night waking, and the inevitable co-sleeping. We look at each other and say 'how are we meant to be creative, to skillfully make things of beauty during this constant chaos?' There is no answer for this, we simply have no choice, shit happens and things are unpredictable, not just for us.

BUT we did get to see Prince again, which was so darn fine, I wish I could see him every fortnight. I tracked down some great tickets on ebay, you can see how close we were to the stage. The camera police were super-vigilant in our area, I only got to take this pic because The Artist wasn't on stage at the time. Bloody great show, I lost my voice for a few days and am still exclusively playing Prince tunes around the house.

I hope that you're all faring well, getting things done, keeping warm, eating good food. I'm wishing for  a bit of sun to dry my laundry, a grandparent to look after the kids for a while, a personal assistant to write emails and submissions for me, and a chef to whip up some inspiring food that will clear my sinuses.